Labor Day is a celebration, a day to recognize the achievements of American workers.
However, there’s not much to celebrate this year for redheads, thugs and drillers, the muscle that has worked hard for decades on oil rigs from the Alaskan desert to the upper plains of Wyoming, jobs that have long helped power america. The pandemic has paralyzed everything in many places.
How’s that?
Texas, the largest oil-producing state in the United States, had 440 platforms on the ground by the end of August last year, according to Baker Hughes’ weekly count, a figure that fell to 104 this year.
The story is the same in North Dakota, the largest oil-producing state at the time: the number of platforms increased from 51 to 10, according to Baker Hughes.
And in Wyoming, where oil and fuel are the state’s economic backbone, the number of platforms fell to 0 for a week in July for the first time since 1884, said Pete Obermueller, executive director of the Wyoming Oil Association. .
“It’s historic and troubling,” there are many works related to oil rigs,” Obermueller said.
In January, Wyoming had 25 rigs, according to data from Baker Hughes. That number dropped almost in part in early April and then to 0 in July when the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country.
Each platform represents about a hundred jobs, Obermueller said, some 2,500 jobs have been lost in Cowboy state since the beginning of the year.
“Normally, if a platform is established in Wyoming, that team can move to North Dakota, Texas, or New Mexico. But in this specific climate, there’s nowhere to happen because everyone on the ground,” he said. on the number of platforms in those states.
“So it worked out like a general loss of jobs,” Obermueller said.
New Mexico had 46 platforms at the end of August, up from 108 a year ago, according to Baker Hughes. The Utah neighborhood has been an active platform since early May.
Utah and Idaho are among the states with economies Where do the other states fall?
The number of national platforms, according to Baker Hughes data, has fallen by almost 30% since late August 2019, from 876 to 241, and COVID-19 is likely to save you an immediate recovery. The value of the barrel for delivery in October is $42. 61, at about $58 at the same time a year ago.
The loss of each and every oil task is magnified in Wyoming, where the oil and fuel industry paid 40% of all asset taxes in 2019, according to the oil association, and has also contributed $705 million to public education and millions more to the state. cities, towns and counties.
Obermueller also estimates that Cowboy State faces a deficit of approximately $2 billion in the public budget with the collapse of oil and fuel Array According to the Wyoming Oil Association, oil and fuel paid 40% of all state asset taxes in 2019.
“It’s an unsurpassed gap,” said Obermueller, who estimates the state faces a deficit of about $2 billion with the collapse of oil and fuel by 2020.
“You can’t get away with it and our population is too small to necessarily get it out of it, so it’s intractable and Array relies heavily on the ability of oil and fuel to protect itself in the state. “Added. This has a profoundly meaningful network impact. “
While the number of national platforms has declined over the years, even before the coronavirus pandemic, oil and fuel production has increased with the accumulation of horizontal drilling.
In April last year, the country’s oil production maintained a record 12. 1 million barrels consistent with the day, while oil is at its highest level since 2007, according to the American Petroleum Institute.
That number had increased to 12. 8 million by the end of 2019, according to the US Energy Information Administration. But it’s not the first time
In Texas, where oil and fuel manufacturers evacuated near the Gulf of Mexico before Hurricane Laura made landfall on August 27, the number of platforms is slowly increasing. The state added up to 8 platforms in August before wasting one in September, according to Data. Baker Hughes.
The President of Texas Oil
Throughout the pandemic, all sectors of the Texas oil and fuel industry (exploration and production, oilfield services, transportation and storage, refining, and production) continued to reliably obtain oil and fuel products that helped keep Texas safe, proportionate, and replenished,” Staples said. USA TODAY in a statement.
As oil crews lose their jobs, Staples said the industry is “well equipped” to help families, businesses and communities from the ongoing pandemic.
Recovery in Wyoming, however, will be another and much more difficult, Obermueller said.
“There is a lot of communication about a V-shaped recovery in industries, [but] a V-shaped oil and fuel recovery in Wyoming is more difficult. It’ll have more U-shape,” he said.
Contribute: The Associated Press